TI4- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



rii;4i.B^Cojn;rir\hf1}o. 
Shelf .tTJ.4- 

DNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



I 



THE PROUDEST 



CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 



MR. BLAINE'S ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE 

DEPARTMENT. HIS CONDUCT OF SOUTH 

AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 



BY 



THOMAS H. TALBOT, 

u 

{Boston, Massachusetts). 




BOSTON : 

CUPPLES, TI'IIAM AND COMPANY, 

tTIo vTovnrr Bookstore. 

1S84. 



Copyright, 1884, 
BY THOMAS H. TALBOT. 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 



I. WHAT MR. BLAINES "BEST MEN SAN': HE BACKS MUM. 

Several of Mr. Blaine's friends have declared what manner 
of administration they expect his to be. Some of th 

expressions were made in Mr. Blaine's presence; and all 
on occasions and by persons who give them weight 

Mr. Rand, of Nevada, who took part in the nomination 
of Mr. Blaine, speaking of him at Portland, Maine, said: — 

•lie represented the American idea. The people of this 
country wanted a man tor President who would make this coun- 
try respected abroad." 

Hon. John Sherman, distinguished by long service in the 
Senate, and still more distinguished as Secretary of the 
Treasury, said, at Washington : — 

"It is said that Blaine is hold and aggressive: that he will 
obstruct the business interests of the country. I would like to 
try such a President. He might shake off some of the cobwebs 
of diplomacy, and invite the attention of mankind to the exist- 
ence of this country." 

General Logan, also of the United States Senate, and 
now candidate for Vice-President, on the same ticket with 
Mr. Blaine, said, at Iiangor, speaking of him as the candi- 
date of the Republican party : — 

" They felt that it would be prudent to take for a candidate 
a man who understands and appreciates our foreign relations." 

And at Ellsworth, in the same State of Maine : — 

" The people of this country " " want a man " •• who can and 
will, in proper manner, establish relations with our sister 
republics of Mexico and South America." 

That now venerable statesman, Hannibal Hamlin, the first 
Republican Vice-President, and of earlier senatorial service 
than even Mr. Sherman, is reported as saying, at Houlton, 
that '• Blaine was a great statesman, who would introduce a 
brilliant foreign policy." 



4 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 

les these declarations, made in the State where is 
Mr. Blaine's home, our own member of Congress, Mr. Rice, 
who so creditably represents the Worcester district, is 
reported as saying, in Boston, as follows : — 

" Arc we in favor of Lhe monarchies of Europe controlling the 
commerce on this American continent? He thought not; and 
now that we are through with our own little troubles it is time 
to take our place among the nations of the earth, branch out in 
a new departure, and assert our principles and have them 
cted and made effectual. To that policy the Republican 
party has pledged itself in the nomination of fames G. 
Blaine." 

All these expressions, you will note, refer to Mr. Blaine in 

connection with the administration of our foreign affairs, and 
my friend. Mr. Rice, serving on the committee on foreign 
affairs in Co . his words have especial weight. But all 

these expressions are significant ; they come from Mr. Blaine's 
•\{ friends — from his partisan nearest of kin. 

And Mr. Blaine himself has encouraged their hopes of 
his special success in handling our foreign relation-. When 
he had, as he undoubtedly did have, his choice of places in 
which he would serve the administration of President Gar- 
field, he took the office of Secretary of State, as that in 
which he could render valuable service to his country and 
win honorable distinction for himself. 

And although his term of service was short, it included 
matter of great importance. A war, not quite closed, hail 
been -win- on between some of our sister republics of South 
America, between Chili on the one side and Peru and 
Bolivia on the other; and in relation to this matter Mr. 
Blaine's action was certainly conspicuous. It has com- 
manded, and it d attention, for this reason, be- 
sides others: Mr. Blaine himself >ed his judg- 
' upon it : he has ivtlc< ted upon it and found it entirely 
to his satisfai tion. It seems to him good, very good. 

Within a few months after he retired from the State 
Department he was examined as a witness before a com- 
mittee of the House of Representatives ', and when the 
questions of the committee were exhausted, and Mr. i'.lame 
was allowed to speak as he would, he closed his testimony 
with these words : — 



[HE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 5 

" If there is any chapter in my life (associated with a great 
man thai is gone) of which I am proud, and of the complete 
and absolute vindication of which 1 feel sure, it. is that in con- 
nection with the policy laid down by the administration of 
President Garfield with respect to the South American States." 

Here lie holds up this piece of his public administration 
to public admiration. He challenges the criticism of all 
comers ; he invites our special attention. Let us accept 
his invitation, and consider his action. 

II. THE SITUATION, AS .MR. EVARTS MADE AND LEFT IT. 

The war between these South American states was swift 
in its course. ( >n February 12, 1S79, the Chilian minister to 
Bolivia was instructed to demand his passports : and in 
eight days thereafter the whole territory which had been in 
dispute between Bolivia and Chili was held by Chilian 
troops. It was April 5 that war was declared against Peru : 
and before the middle of October the Peruvian navy was 
disabled, and Chili was undisputed master of the sea. 
I Jefore the year ended the constitutional President of Peru 
was overthrown and a dictator ruled in his stead: Peru's 
calamities in the war causing this revolution. Under this 
new regime Peru began to show some signs of life and to 
put forth more vigorous efforts for national defence. Before 

next midwinter, that is. in June, 1880, however, the 
Chilians had large possessions in Peru ; they held the depart- 
ment of Tarapaca, part of that of Moquegna, and had 
taken the city of Arica. 

Our minister to Peru, Judge Christiancy, was now of 
opinion that "the end cometh." or ought to come soon. 
He ventured t<> suggest to the supreme chief of that 
country that Peru should consent to receive proposition 

e, if Chili should see fit to make any such. Into this 
rt to bring the war to a close Minister Christiancy 
entered very actively, this object having the approval of our 
own government at that time, that is, the administration of 
President Hayes, with Mr. Evarts a, Secretary of State. 
Mr. Christiancy visited the capital of Chili and had inter- 
views with that government in this matter. At length, with 
the approval of our government, a conference was brought 



6 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS 1-11 

about between the belligerents. In October, r88o, the rep- 

< hili, Peru, and Bolivia, met on 
board the United - imer Lackawanna, the ministers 

of the United S ites to those countries with them, for a 
conference in the in; ; This was in the 

of Arica, and is known as the Conference of Arica. 
Our minister to Chili, Mr. Osbom, acted as chairman, b) 
seniority. 

The plenipotentiaries of Chili, at the first meeting, 
presented their propositions or basis of peace ; and its first 
condition was that Peru should cede to Chili the department 
ol Tarapaca. This cession Peru refused absolutely; and 
upon this demand and refusal the conference came to 
nothing: leaving the difficulties which lav beyond this 
proposition out of our present consideration. 

The war was resumed ; and now it was a war with th 
one of its causes, publicly avowed and recognized as one of 
it^ i namely, Chili demanded, and Peru refused. 

>ion of the department of Tarapaca. 

War was resumed. The Chilian plenipotentiaries fell 
back, and the Chilian armies once more moved forwards. 
Their summer, the opening season of their year, was coming 
on; and in January, 1881, not long after midsummer, the 
Chilian fo te the Peruvian army in front of the city 

of Pima, so that it lied before their face — completely 
banded : and then they entered and took a of the 

'1 of Peru. And the precise situation of affairs in this 
.try at this tin: »m this time forwards, is set forth 

in a dispat h from our minister at Lima, under a little later 
date, that of A i88i. He thus wrote: — 

•• The niilitarv situation is perfectly simple. Peru is effectually 

i. She has no longer any army or navy; she has no 

soldiers, no ships-of-war, no fortn sition or 

i" 'I ' munitions of war, no means of buying any, no 

no treasury. 

" VI . h. is finisln d so far as she is concerned, and has 

. >r six month 8. 
"The Chilians hi i her navy; have 

occupied and -till hold 1, ipital city, and 

her custom-houses. Theji have occupied in force the territory of 
Tarapaca, with its nitrate beds ; and thej hold the guano depos 
and all the accessible and fertile valley* debouching on the 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIKE. 7 

Thev collect the duties at all the ports. They sell the nitrates 
and guanos." 

" In the interior there is some show of resistance, but infinitely 
more show than substance." 

Lima fell as the administration in our country of Mr. 
Hayes was drawing to its close. Mr. Evarts's note to Mr. 
Osborn, upon receiving information of the occupation of 
Lima by the Chilians, was the last which he sent to Chili. 
He wrote : — 

" It is naturally to lie interred that the time has come when 
the Peruvian government would not refuse to treat upon any 
supportable basis. 

" I have, to-day, instructed Mr. Christiancy to press upon the 
government of Peru, and upon such Chilian authorities as he 
may have access to. the earnest desire of this government to 
bring about a peace without delay and upon reasonable and 
honorable terms, compatible with the true welfare of all the 
belligerents so as to be lasting. Your own urgent efforts will 
be exerted in the same direction." 

He used those words well knowing that, during its latter 
stage, the war had been carried on by Chili because Peru 
had refused a cession of territory; that the capital of Peru 
had been captured by the Chilians in order to compel such 
cession; that such cession was a condition without which 
Chili would not make peace. Yet he makes no protest 
against this demand. He does not even suggest that Chili 
should moderate it. On the other hand, he now expects an 
altered tone on the part of Peru. The time has come, in 
his opinion, when she will make peace upon any supportable 
basis. 

This is the aspect in which Mr. Evarts left this affair. 
This is the situation upon which Mr. Blaine entered. If 
there was, then, any one fact in the relations of this diplo- 
macy between Chili on the one side and Peru and Bolivia 
on the other side, well known to the State Department of 
the United States, it was that Chili demanded a cession of 
territory from each of her adversaries. The State Depart- 
ment had intimation of this early in the war, very early. 

That Chili had definite intentions in this direction in the 
contingency which actually occurred, our minister to Chili, 
Mr. Osborn, and our ministers to Peru, Mr. Gibbs and Mr. 



8 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LI] I . 

Christiancy, agreed In representing to our State I department 

If these representations arc to be considered as merely inti- 
mations of personal opinion on the part of our ministers, 

still they would serve to put our government upon the effort 
■tain more authoritative information. They would also 
tend to make our government ready to act promptly and 
advisedly upon such authoritative information when it should 
come : and it was coming. The intent of Chili was to be 
made known to our government in a formal and explicit 
manner. 

I have already spoken of the conference at Arica, and as 
brought about with the approval of our government, and by 
the efforts of our minister to Peru, Mr. Christiancy. Our 
minister to Chili, Mr. Osborn, also was active to this end. 
In fact, the effort seems to have originated widi him. Upon 
this subject he wrote two letters to Mr. Christiancy, copies 
of which he forwarded to the State Department; and in 
each of these letters he mentions as a condition of peace, 
to be insisted upon by Chili in the proposed negotiation, the 
surrender of Tarapaca. In the second of these letters, he 
says : — 

" President Pierola" (that is, the Dictator President of Peru) 
" should he fully advised of the conditions which Chili will 
impose. She will insist upon retaining the province of 
Tarapaca." 

In the interview which our minister to Peru had with the 
President of Chili in promotion of this conference, the 
President of Chili declared that Chili's demand of the terri- 
tories of Peru and Bolivia south of the river Camerones was 
absolute and final ; and Mr. Christiancy answered that he 
wa> persuaded that Peru would consent to the cess 
demanded of her. Nor was Mr. Christiancy alone in this 
opinion : the other diplomats at Lima entertained it. 

At the Arica conference, as before stated, Chili presented 
her demands in writing. This, in the presence of the 
ministers of the United States to Chili. Peru, and Bolivia, 
respectively. The protocols of that conference were com- 
municated to other governments, and also a Chilian ( ircular 
setting forth her action and the reasons therefor ; and these 
documents, of course, in this, as well as through the reports 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIFE. Q 

of our ministers, reached the State Department of the 
United Stales. 

It is true that, at this conference, Chili presented other 
conditions besides that of the cession of all territory south 
o( the river Camerones. But the other belligerents made 
absolute refusal of this first condition ; and .Mr. Christia 
after the conference was over, was of opinion that compli- 
ance with this first condition would then have been accepted 
bj ( 'liili in full satisfaction of all her dem inds. 

■. then, was this intent of Chili announced to the rest 
of the world of civilized nations ; made known as fairly, 
fully — yes, as formally — as was the intention of the United 
States to abolish slavery made known on and after January 
i, 1863. And none of these nations lifted up its voice 
ust it. If any manifestation of opinion at all thereon 
was made by nations other than ours, it was in the direction 
of assent. In March. 1880, long before the triumph of 
Chili was as complete as it afterwards became, Mr. E\ 
deemed it not improbable that the European powers might 
"use effective argument to bring about a practical surrender 
on the part of Peru and Bolivia." In the following winter. 
as winter comes there. Mr. Osborn found European repre- 
sentatives at Santiago and Lima considering how peace 
could be effected by the surrender of Tarapaca. The 
of the world, then, gave consent that in this matter Chili 
should execute her wid. 

And to the United Stal ially, this will had been 

made known. And the United - 1 not said "nay" 

to Chili. Not a word of protest, or of reproof, or of remon- 
strance, or even of advice against demanding this cession of 
territory, appears to have reached Chili from any of the 
ministers of the United States at the conference of A 
or elsewhere, at any time during the progress of this affair. 
Xor from the Secretary of State of the United States so long 
as Mr. Evarts was such secretary. 

In fine, Chili moved upon Peru, in the later stage of this 
war. with the consent of the civilized world that, in case of 
success, she might take the department of Tarapaca : and 
with the consent especially of the United States. 



IO THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIFE. 



III. WHAT ACTION MR. BLAINE TOOK. 

is left for Mr. Blaine to change the tone of the United 
States toward Chili. He entered upon his duties, as S; 
tary of State, under President Garfield, March 5, 188 1. 
after new ministers were appointed to both Peru and 
Chili. General Hurlbut, of Illinois, took the place of 
Judge Christiancy at Lima, and General Kilpatrick, of New 
Jersey, replaced Mr. ( )-!>orn at Santiago. The instructions 
date of June 15, 1S81. Eight days before, 
Mr. Blaine received a dispatch from Mr. Osborn containing 
this sentence : — 

" This government will unquestionably insist upon the relin- 
quishment by Peru of the province of Tarapaca-; and unl 
the Peruvian authorities shall be found ready to concede this, 
the attempt to make peace will fail." 

In his instructions to Minister Kilpatrick Mr. Blaine finds 
occasion, at the outset, to refer to the conference at Arica ; 
and his third sentence opens as follows : — 

" It is evident from the protocols of that conference that Chili 
was prepared to dictate, not to discuss, terms of peace." 

This, plainly, is the language of reproof. Here is cen- 
sure of the course of Chili ; of her conduct, taken when 
Mr. Blaine was not the mouthpiece of the United St 
conduct which had been fully communicated to the United 
1 had raised no complaint. 

Further on the instructions read as follows : — 

•■ It may very well he that at the termination of such a conte-t 
the changi I condition and relation of all the parties t" it may 
make readjustment of boundaries or territorial changes wise 
well . try; hut this, where the war i- not one of con- 

<|iust. should be the result of negotiation and not the absolute 
preliminary condition en which alone the victor consents to 

'• While the I rnment does not pretend to 

-s an opinion whether or not such an annexation of terri- 

f this war. it believes that it 

would be more honorable to the Chilian government, more 

the security of a permanent peace, ami more in 

th those principles which are professed by all the 

republics of America, that such territorial chang i he 

avoided as far as possible ; that they should never he the result 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. I I 

of mere force, but, if necessary, should be decided and tempered 
by full and equal discussion between all the powers whose 
people and whose national interests are involved." 

In concluding, this dispatch authorizes its reading to 
the Chilian minister of foreign affairs, at the discretion of 
Minister Kilpatrick. 

Here, you see, was more language of reproof; for what- 
ever there was of fact to call forth this language was to be 
found in the intention of the Chilian government, pro- 
claimed to the whole world some months before, and espec- 
ially made known to the United States ; the United States 
present as a witness when that intention was declared. 
Chili is to be told that her course, actually and publicly 
taken in the presence, and with the assent, of the United 
States, " is calculated to throw suspicions on the professions 
with which war was originally declared." Our minister is 
to instruct her that she ought not to have made readjustment 
of boundaries "the absolute preliminary condition on which 
alone" she would consent to negotiate, when this was the 
fact : The United States had approached Chili in the full 
progress of her victorious operations, and requested Chili 
to pause for negotiations ; and to this request Chili had 
answered, " We will not pause, save upon the condition of 
a readjustment of boundaries"; and our government had 
still pressed Chili to pause upon that condition. 

Chili was to be instructed that another course would be 
more honorable to her government, more conducive to the 
security of a permanent peace, and more in consonance 
with those principles which are professed by all the repub- 
lics of America, than that course which Chili, by her pleni- 
potentiaries, in the presence of the United States, by 
the invitation of the United States, had declared she would 
take. She had made this declaration within the jurisdic- 
tion of the United States, whither our government had 
invited Chili to come, knowing that such declaration would 
be made. 

Thereafter, in execution of this declaration, Chili had 
gone forward in the further prosecution of the war, the 
United States raising no voice against this course. With the 
assent of the United States, Chili had carried on war, 



12 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 

through these later months : had expended treasure and 
blood, that she might have a readjustment of boundaries. 
as essential to permanent peace : was now by her warlike 
efforts in | ;i of the capital of her foe : and at this 

juncture the United States would step in, and advise her she 
could not honorably take the understood result of her 
efforts. 

Advice like this of Mr. Blaine's to Chili under the 
existing circumstances was as much cause of offence, as to 
the United States, upon the close of our late Civil War. it 
would have been cause of offence had so rnment of 

Europe advised our government that peace with the South 
should be made without abolishing slavery ; the United 
States having, in the course of the war. by its President, 
proclaimed that slavery should be abolished as the result of 
successful war by the United States. 

As before said, the instructions to our minister to Peru. 
General Hurlbut, bore the same date as those to General 
KJlpatrick. They contained as follows : — 

"As the Chilian government has distinctly repudiated the 
idea that this was a war of conquest, the government of Peru 
may fairly claim the opportunity to make proposition- oJ 
indemnity and guaranty before submitting to a cession of terri- 
tory. A- far as the influence of the United State- will go in 
Chili, it will he exerted to induce the Chilian government to 
consenl that the question of the cession of territory should he 
tin- subjecl of negotiation, and not the condition precedent 
upon which alone negotiation -hall commei 

Here was a definite promise made to Peru, that the 
United States would endeavor to induce Chili to recede 
from the position which she had taken in < Ktobcr. 1880, and 
which in the meantime she had supported by successful 
war. 

In a subsequent paragraph, Mr. Hurlbut is instructed : — 

'• If. upon full knowledge Of the condition of Peru, you can 
inform thi- government that Peru can devise and carry into 
practical effect a plan bj which all the reasonable condition- of 
Chili can be met without sacrificing the integrity of Peruvian 
territory . the government of the United States would be \\ tiling 
to offer it- good offices toward the execution of such a proy 

Clearly, the government of the United States wa- to 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE, 1 3 

determine what were the reasonable conditions of Chili ; 
and this was a jurisdiction then for the first time assumed 
by our government. 

Ac< ompanying this dispatch was Inclosed, " as a strictly 
confidential communication," "a copy of instructions sent 
this day to the United States minister at Santiago." This. 
in order that the minister to Peru might "be advised of 
the position which this government assumes toward all the 
parties to this deplorable conflict." That is to say: a copy 
of the instructions to our minister to Chili was sent to our 
minister to Peru. The instructions to General Kilpatrick 
were made known to General Hurlbut. But the instructions 
to General Hurlbut were not made known to General Kil- 
patrick. 

These instructions proved difficult of execution ; as 
difficult to the ministers to whom they were given, as to the 
1 >emocratic governors of the Territory of Kansas, just before 
our Civil War. was the Democratic policy of governing 
that Territory. It was not long before both of them fell 
under reproof; and the execution of the policy of these 
instructions was taken from them and committed to another. 
There was overzeal on the part of one, and underzeal on 
the part of another. And, in fact, the minister who was 
overzealous in behalf of Mr. Blaine's policy received, as 
he merited, the heavier reproof. 

The whole situation soon began to overflow with awk- 
wardness, and to decline toward unpleasantness. Our di- 
na< y with Peru seemed to blossom out into indiscretion. 
( )ur minister to Pima. Mr. Hurlbut. is characterized by Mr. 
Blaine as •• a man of very great intelligence," "of fine edu- 
cation " and " large and great breadth of information, - ' "of 
great force," " of extraordinary ability," " of unsullied honor 
and integrity." 

But under Mr. Blaine's instructions, he fell into indis- 
cretions. There is no time to specify them, save by quota- 
tion from Mr. Blaine, who thus bore witness : — 

" It was indiscreet in him to hold communication with the 
Chilian admiral ; it was indiscreet in him to hold communication 
with the government of Pierola when he had been accredited to 
the government of Calderon ; it was indiscreet in him to ask the 



1 4 THK I : R !\ HIS LI] 

Argentine Confederation to hurry up a mini 

indiscreet in him to enter into negotia ,: r of 

any rights on Peruvian soil to the United 

nt made with him to cede to u> tl 
Chimbote. All these things had a tendency to put t he Ui 
States outside the pale of friendly intervention." 

were indis< retions, four in number, when the minis- 
had not been four months at his post : more than 
indiscretion for every month of servi< mo- 

tions, as he was a man of very great zeal, his whole h 
as Mr. Blaine testified, had become ••enlisted with the 
Peruvian people and the Peruvian cause, 
than was prudent for a minister representing a friendly 
country, a country friendly to both panics.'' The mini 
was taking too "decided and pronounced a course in f 
of Peru and the Permian cause." 'I 
was compelled to check his " overzeal in a good caus 
Mr. Blaine accordingly sent down what he reluctantly 1 
'•' a reprimand." 

And yet Mr. Blaine, in this category of indiscretions. 
omits what he considered the greatest impropriety in 
action of this mini he United States, the one calling 

for "the most decided expression of disap f*hat 

was nothing less than itiation w i 41- 

deron in regard to a ra [r a 1 company," of which Mini 
Hurlbut was to become trustee, for the ultimate benefit of 
an American company. 

At this stage, the difference between our ministers to 
these two countries had become notorious; and this n 
tiation, which they had not saved fi ilication, I 

now be entrusted to a special mission. But in • 
reach that fact in regular - . the narrai 

must here turn I a< k. 

• and the 
that city, ' itor of Peru, with the remna 

of his army, lied into the nd thereafter, outs 

of the Chilian lines, he held himsell ■ the ruler 

the country. Inside the Chilian lines, at a meeting of iio 
citizens of Lam i and < 'all to, a Mr. Fran 
deron was by a fair majority of that m 
constitute the government of Peru. This attempt at estab- 



THE PR( 'i i m r I HAP n:k IN HIS LI1 15 

lishing a governmenl received some encouragement from 
Chili; but it was never red as the governmenl 

Peru by Chili : nor. • > far as th ondence shows, 

any governmenl vn. Mr. Christiancy n< 

ited it as established defact 
our government to recognize it. On the other hand, I 
dispatch received at our State Department May 5, he in- 
formed Mr. Blaine that itwas"qtiite clear that the over- 
whelming majority of the pi ' were opposed to 
this government, and still adhered to Pierola. 

This which he wrote later was true then, as the statement 
shows : — ■ 

"The fact is that it is not a government de facto \ or in the 
exercise of the functions of government anywhere, ;o far 

as the Chilian author!; : ill w it t > any 

powers of the kind ; and these are confined within very narrow 
limits. It has been alloi thus far full powers only 

in the little hamlet of Magdalena." 

Not only was this the si ts existing in early May ; 

but also it was the state of fact-; then known : line. 

Vet on May gth he received Mr. Elmore as the confidential 
agent of this not established government. Me seem- 
acknowledge that it was not a government actually estab- 
lished. 1 !■■ does not direct Minuter Christiancy to recog- 
nize it, except upon conditions to be ascertained. And 
here he docs not put the simple condition whether or not it 
is a government actually established, whether Peru had ac- 
cepted, had acquiesced in, this government. 1 le did not 
follow what Minister Christ! - as "the safe and 

generally approved rule of recognizing a new government 
(namely), that it should appear to be a governmenl 
facto.'' On the other hand, the conditions are : — 

•• If the Calderon government is supported by the character 
and intelligent : and is really endeavoring to re- 

constitutional government, with a view both to order within and 
negotiation with Chili for pe; 

When before did the United States make such conditions 
of recognizing a foi rnment? 

How was Mr. Blaine induced to state these as the condi- 
tions of recognizing this provisional government of Calder- 



l6 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIFE. 

on? Had he been told by Calderon's representative that 

these conditions existed? If he had not been thus informed 
from that source, what information had he, which, according 
to his own showing, justified his action? If he had such 
information, was not Minister Christiancy directed to make. 
ide the line of established usj inquiries and such 

only as would result in a favorable answer? 

And yet this mini 1 it quite difficult to : 

favorable answer even to these leading questions. 

What and with what view the Calderon government was 
endeavoring to do. he : <rn only by its own pri 

sions. But the fir still more difficult one. 

If mere money or financial influence were referred to by 
Mr. Blaine, that might be sup-porting the Calderon govern- 
ment. That was to be found along the coast, which was 
completely controlled by the Chilians, in a class who were 
ready for peace at any price and upon any terms, which was 
something not to Mr. Blaine's desire. But if referer.ee was 
to the weight of influence upon polili< eminent mat- 

ters, there was great room for doubt ; it might turn out to 
be against the provisional government. 

But upon one point he was not in doubt ; he was certain, 
and con, tain as long as he continued in Peru ; and 

the diplomatic corps at Lima I with him. That point 

was that ; im< nl of Calderon was not accepted by 

the people of Peru ; was not a government d Had 

.Mr. Blaine put that as a condition of its recognition, he 
would never have • 1 it. lie wrote. June 21, i 

■• It is the settled and unanimous opinion of all int 
men here that it would not last a day after the Chilians ,-i. 
leave the country." 

nally determined to recognize it only because ' 
ing that the question whether the Calderon government 
was a government de facto was not expressly made a con- 
dition." 

[flefttoact according to his own judgment, he would 
have waited till this government had become a government 
de facto, or until it were better established. But he could 
not set up his own judgment against that of his govern- 
ment j his duty was that of Strict obedience. Thus over- 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 1 7 

borne by action and instructions from Washington, he reluct- 
antly recognized the Calderon government. What else 
could he have done, after I Department at Wash- 

ington had recognized it? Would it have been proper that 
recognition should have been granted by the superior at 
Washington, and then withheld by the subordinate .it Lima? 
Later he had reason to fear that his action was premature, 
and his dispatch closes as follows : — 

•' I fear, however, this recognition will lead to many complica- 
tions. Hut I have obeyed what I was compelled to consider 
your orders." 

This was the government in the displacement of which 
Mr. Blaine afterward found probable cause of war between 
the United States and Chili. 

That .Mr. Blaine, in this action, was departing from the 
true path of diplomatic usage appears when he undertakes 
to justify his action. He says : — 

" We recognized that government in supposed conformity to 
the wishes of the Chilian government." 

Furthermore, he makes this action of the United States 
appear as a substantial element of ''increased strength and 
confidence " to that government. That is, this had become 
the government of Peru, not a little by the wishes of Chili 
and the support of the United States. One of Mr. Hurlbut's 
indiscretions, it is well to recall here, was committed in 
his effort to strengthen the Calderon government, that is, in 
his intermeddling with the internal politics of Peru. 

For Mr. Blaine's supposition that Chili wished the United 
States to recognize the government of Calderon, the cor- 
respondence shows very little ground. The last communica- 
tion from Santiago, which Mr. Blaine received before his 
own act of recognition, represented that government as con- 
sidered not strong enough to negotiate with ; and the next 
communication represented the Chilian hopes of strength 
on the part of that government as "seriously weaken 

From Mr. Christiancy also Mr. Blaine had learned that 
the Chilian military had refused to allow this government to 
occupy the government palace, and raise over it the Peru- 
vian flag and to control the custom-house and collection of 
duties. That is, it was not allowed to exercise the authority 
of a government. 



IB THE RROUDEST CHAPTER JX HIS LIFE. 

This was the government which Mr. Blaine, of hi 
motion, at Washington, hastened I To this 

tent of Mr. Blaine's upholding, while . the 

United Slates had accredited, after b . recall 

in August, a minister whose whole he to Mr. 

Blaine, was "enlisted with the Peruvian people and the 
Peruvian ( He was overzealous in this cause, and at 

length distinguished himself by the number of his indiscre- 
has already appeared. 

will recollect, 
munication to the Chilian commander. Admiral Lynch, a 
brave sailor, of Irish descent, of who ' idly 

avails herself. In this communication the United States 
ks as supreme judge, having complete jurisdiction over 
the cause and the parties. 

The United Si Mr. Hurlbut. 

"do not approve of war for the purpose of territorial aggran- 
dizement, nor of the violent dismemberment of a nation, except 
as a lasl resort unci in extreme emergencies. As there never has 
been any quest tndaries I Peru and Chili, and. 

therefore, no front i. ulate ; and as Chili has repeal 

publicly, and officially disdained any pu 

ble annexation of territory, we are clearly of opinion that such 
action now w >uld n rl with the dignity and public faith 

of Chili, and would iture tranquillity o< 

both . by establishing a very ievance, which 

would constantly tend to manifest itself in disturbs 

•• We are also clearly of the opinion that Peru ought to have 
the opportunity, in full and free discussion of the term- 
pea, -such indemnity as maybe satisfactory; and 
it is contrary to the rules which should prevail among enli 
ened . and as t 
transfer territory, i \ Peruvian, to the jurisdiction of 
Chili, wit ' the inability or unwil 
u to furnish indeini | Inn. 

" Such a cou hili would meet with decided 

disfa\ or on tli 

I [ere is the waj he c< >n< lu les : — 

'• We are therefon ipinion that the acl of seizun 

Peruvian territory and ann< same to Chili, whether 

In mere superior by dictating th< .'- an 

imperative condition of the cessation of hostilities, in manifest 

disclaimers t.>i such purpose by Chili. 

would justly b ed by other nations as evidence that 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LI] K) 

Chili had entered upon the path of aggression and conquest for 
the purpose of territorial aggrandizement." 

The purpose of Chili, which is here reproved, was — let 

ain — -a purpose made known to the world 

before Chili moved against the capital of Tern and with her 

armies captured it, and assented to by the neutral nations, 

especially the United States. 

■ been easy for Mr. Hurlbut, when Admiral 
Lynch inquired of him as to the intentions of the United 
wered : The United States is not a party 
onflict between Chili and her adversaries} and does 
not intend to make herself such party. But that answer he 
did not make. On the other hand he used language of in- 
terposition, of interference, of active, forcible intervention. 

What effect could such language from the mouth of the 
UnitedStates have upon a Perm rnment, the breath 

of whose life almost came from the United States? It 
could but inspire such a government with new hopes of 
making head against Chili and to efforts. towards renewing 
the conflict with her. Under such influence from the 
United States, it would be no wonder if this government of 
I leron became guilt}', or. at least became fairly liable 
to Chilian suspicion, of secret warlike intrigues and move- 
ments, gly, under the existing circumstances, it 
was no strange thing that in course of time (September 28) 
the Chilian commander, the same Irish admiral, ordered its 
head to suspend the exercise of its functions within the 
Chilian lines ; and later (November 6), this order not being 
implicitly obeyed, Calderon was taken a prisoner of war t 1 
Chili. . 

At this point in my narrative I come to a pause : to a 

full stop almost. It i- true indeed that the interest can be 

kept up still further on. I'.ut here terminated Mr. Blaine's 

tence in this ! from May to November, si\ 

►rt of our State Department, 
Mi-. Blaine at its head, had been, ostensibly, to prevent 
( .iili from annexing Peruvian territory: to bring her to 
cut to terms of peace without insisting upon such 
annexation. As a means towards that end. he would have 
the Chilian government recognize the government of Cal- 



20 THE PRi " \ll l.K IN HIS 1. 1 

deron as the government of Peru. And to take our story 
from a dispatch of Minister Hurlbut, when by the aid of 
"the moral weight of the United States" thai government 
had gained some strength, the Chilians stamped it out by 

military force. 

IV. WHAT MR. BLAINE NEXT ATTEMPTED, AND HOW IT 
CAME TO NAUGHT. 

This was all that came of Mr. Blaine's intervention in the 

unpleasantness in the South Pacific. It had failed, and 
tailed signally. i did not desist here. He had 

resort to other measures; but these other measures never 

went beyond the mere manifestation of opinion and inten- 
tion. They fell short of action : 

"Old grandfiire Priam 

Striking short at Greeks, his antique sword " 

....'' lies where it falls 
Repugnant to command." 

There they are, written in the records of the Stat 
partment, preserving the memory of what Mr. Blaine 
intended and the Unit 3 - would not execute. 

These other measures involved the necessity of a special 
mission. So General Kilpatrick and General Hurlbut was 
-■i. a informed. William Henry Trescott, Esquire, of South 
ilina was commissioned as special envoy, with the rank 
of minister plenipotentiary to the republics of Chili. Peru, 
and Bolivia: the third Assistant Secretary of State. Mr. 
Walker Blaine, tanying him. 

Here, where Mr. Blaine's South American policy culmi- 
nated, it is worth while to he particular about dates. The 
arrest of Calderon took at Lima, <,m November 6. 

On the next day, the ;th. Mr. Hurlbut telegraphed this t'a< t 
to Mr. Blaine. On November 14. Calderon's minister at 
Washington (ailed at the State Department, and orally 
informed Mr. Blaine of the arrest of his chief. Eight days 
thereafter the plan of sending out a special mission had 
been adopted. Still later by three days, that is. on Novem- 
. Mr. Blaine telegraphed to Mr. KJlpatrick: — 

'• United States does not understand the aholition of Cahleron 
government and his arrest," 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIFE. 21 

as though the United States desired some explanation 
from the Chilian government. Without waiting for answer 

to this telegram, on November 30, the commissions to the 
envoy and attache were delivered ; and on December 1 the 
envoy received his full instructions. Two days later the 
State Department received the dispatch of Minister Ilurlbut 
communicating fully the facts of the arrest. Meanwhile no 
answer had come from our minister to Chili to the call for 
an explanation of the action of the Chilian government, and 
no communication from him, touching that action, was 
received by Mr. Blaine. General Kilpatrick's di 
reporting and giving the reasons for the arrest of Cakleron. 
were received, not by Mr. Blaine, but by his successor, Mr. 
Frelinghuysen. 

Let us see what was the message which was prepared, and 
for which a special embassy was raised, with such h 
Having recited facts pertaining to the Calderon government 
down to the suspension of its authority by the Chilian mili- 
tary, within their lines, the letter of instruction thence pro- 
ceeds : — 

" Unable to understand this sudden, and, giving due regard 
to the professions of Chili, this unaccountable, change of 
policy, this government instructed its ministers at Lima to 
continue to recognize the Calderon government until more 
complete information would enable it to send further instruc- 
tions. If our present information is correct, immediately upon 
the receipt of this communication they arrested President Cal- 
deron; and thus, as far as was in their power, extinguished hi> 
government.*' 

Here, you will notice, Mr. Blaine is pot entirely assured 
of the main ground of his action : the offence itself. To 
use the language of the criminal law, he is not quite certain 
of a corpus delicti. 1 have called your attention to the 
meagreness of his information at the time of this 
writing. 

Then, as to that arrest having been caused, in any degree, 
by Mr. Blaine's instruction to Mr. Ilurlbut to continu 
recogniz< Ideron government, there is still less i 

of fact. All, apparently, that Mr. Blaine knew about that, 
the time when he made this suspicion the basis and founda- 
tion of his instructions to a special envoy and plenipotenl 



22 THE PROUD] 5T I HAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 

extraordinary, was that such instructions had been sent to, 

and received by, tl states minister a few days before 

lb- did not know that the receipt of that 

instruction had been n, ' Chilian authorities 

In Santiago, or even in Lima. Nor could the Chilian 

auth ve inferred the receipt of such instruction 

in the conduct of Minister Ilurlbut 

ird the Calderon government; for the instruction 

required no such change. Mr. Ilurlbut had, without break, 

ignize that government, and actively to 

»rt it. 

But not only was Mr. Blaine without good ground for 

hilian government ; but also he 

had authentic information to op] Thirty-three 

days before Caldei arrested Minister Ilurlbut v.. 

to the State Department that he probably would 

ted, and gave the reason therefor, which was this: 

1 received horn Admiral Lynch an ordei 
■ his functions and to surrender all his archives, bo 
and papers." Thereupon, the dispatch recites: — 

•• Mr. Calderon consulted with me on receipt of this order, 
and said very firmly that he should not obey it. Inasmuch ;b 
it was very probable that this act of nee would be 

promptly followed by military ■ Mr. Cal- 

deron the propriety of making some arrangement by which 
itimate su< uld be provided in ease he was 

disabled from acting. !■> this end th ss was quietly 

I, and they pn I to elect Admiral Mont. to as 

ident, thus continuii istitutional succession. 

••I also from Mr. Gah pcretary for foreign 

affairs, such bo respondence as he i 

ntial, and shall hold them in this I 

dispatch shows no minute of th 
which, in regular i ild have been, about November i . 

or n< made. It c< rtainly was 

, was determined upon : 
down to that lime Mr. Blaine had no other information 
i this subjei t from Minister Ilurlbut. Here. then, is the 

forehand that the Chilian 

a. It will have Ca se he disob 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN' HIS LIFE. 23 

the orders oi the Chilian commander in occupation of Peru. 
Having this in t and no other,- Mr. Blaine, when the 

>n is taken, hastens to assign to it another reason: 
nam< ly, an intent to insult the United States. Mr. Hurlbut 
writes Mr. Blaine that Calderon has given the Chilian gov- 
ernment good grounds for his arrest : say Peruvian ground.-;. 
Mr. Blaine, learning of the arrest, assumes that it was for 
reasons relating to the United States and treats it as giving 
immediate war. Were the foreign affairs of the 
United States ever before jockeyed in this style? 
The instructions go on : — 

•• The Presidenl does not now insist upon the inference which 
this action would warrant. lie hopes that there is some expla- 
nation which will relieve him from the painful impression that it 
was taken in resentful reply to the continued recognition of the 
Odd xnment by the United States. If, unfortunately, 

he should be mistaken, and such a motive he avowed, your duty 
will be a brief one. You will say to the Chilian government 
that the President considers such a proceeding as an intentional 
and unwarranl . anil that you will communicate such 

an avowal to the government of the United States, with the 
assurance that it will be regarded by the government a- an act 
of such unfriendly import as to require the immediate suspension 
of all diplomatic' intercourse. You will inform me immediately 
of the happening of such contingency, and instructions will be 
sent to you.'' 

In the next two paragraphs the instructions fell into a 
more peaceful flow. The worst may not be true. Mr. 
Blaine does not anticipate that it is. But thereafter the 
war spirit tin. The secretary declare, : — 

•• It is difficult for me to say now how far an explanation 
would be satisfactory to the President which was not accompanied 
by the restoration or recognition of the Calderon government.*' 

Further on. there is instrui tion, grave ami solemn warning, 
as of th hted statesman, to Chili, of the dangers 

of her evil course. The instructions recite : — 

•• But this government feels that the exercise of the right ot 
absolute conquest is dangerous to the best interest- of all the 
republics of this continent: that from it are certain to spring 
other wars and political disturbam 

" This government also holds that, between two independent 
nation-, hostilities do not, from the mere existence of war, 



24 rHE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 

confer the right of conquest until the failure to furnish the 
indemnity and guaranty which can be rightfully demanded. 

"The United States maintains, therefore, that Peru has the 
right to demand that an opportunity should be allowed her to 
find such indemnity and guaranty, Nor can this government 
admit that a cession of territory can be properly exacted far 
exceeding in value the amplest estimate of a reasonable 
indemnity. 

•The annexation of Tarapaca, which, under proper adminis- 
tration, would produce annually a sum sufficient to pay a large 
indemnity, seems to us to be not consistent with the execution 
of justice.*' 

This strain of the instructions closes with these words of 
portentous warning : — 

"If our good offices are rejected, and this policy of the 
absorption of an independent state be persisted in, this govern- 
ment will consider itself discharged from any further obligation 
to be influenced in its action by the position which Chili has 
assumed, and will hold itself free to appeal to the other repub- 
lics of this continent to join it in an effort to avert consequences 
which cannot be confined to Chili and Peru, but which threaten 
with extremest danger the political institutions, the peaceful 
progress, and the liberal civilization, of America." 

On the next day additional instructions were given to Mr. 
Trescott, the purport of which was to authorize him, if he 
should deem it advisable, to return home by way of l'.u 
Ayres and Rio Janeiro, the capitals respectively of the Argen- 
tine Republic and Brazil. The Argentine Republic was 
known by our State 1 )epartment to be on not the best of terms 
with Chili. 

Returning now to the instructions in chief, the inquiry 
arises: what was their basis of fact? In justification of this 
reproof and this exhortation, what knowledge had Mr. 
Blaine of the intentions of Chili? What knowledge had he 
when he thus exhorted, reproved, and threatened? 

He had this knowledge, and no more. 1 [e had the de< la- 
ration of Chili's plenipotentiary, made on board a United 
Stat of-war, in the presence of ministers of 

United States, whose presence there, as well as the whole 
conference, was with the approval ami the initiating invita- 
tion of the United States. 'Phis was more than a year b 
the date of these bellicse instructions. It was on 
twenty-second of October, t88o, and now it was the first 



THE PROUD] 5T I HAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 25 

of December, 1SS1. Meanwhile Chili had made no new 
declaration of her intention. In 1SS1 Mr. Blaine knew 
what Mr. Evarts knew in 1880, and he knew no more. 
Chili's Intention, as known to Mr. Blaine-, had keen made 
known to the United States, when Mr. Evarts was what 
Mr. Blaine afterwards became, the mouthpiece of the 
United States ; when Mr. Evarts was alike authorized to 
speak, or to maintain silence, for this nation. And silei 
he had maintained. It was the silence of assent. By the 
authority vested in him, and in the President who was over 
him, he had pledged the United States not to intervene, not 
to interfere. Keeping silence then, the United States was 
bound forever after to hold its peace. 

It was not in character for the United States to go hack 
upon its pledge. The United States did not. It refused to 
interfere ; it drew back from intervention. 

Mr. Blaine gave place to Mr. Frelinghuysen, as Secretary 
of State, December 19, r88i. Mr. Frelinghuysen, on Janu- 
ary 3, and again on January 4, 1882, by telegraph essen- 
tially modified the instructions which had been given to Mr. 
Trescott By January 9 full instructions were drawn up to 
be sent by mail. Let me quote from them : — 

•■The President wishes in no manner to dictate or make any 
authoritative utterance to either Peru or Chili as to the merit- of 
the controversy existing between these republics, as to what in- 
demnity should he asked or given, as to a change of boundaries, 
or as to ihe personnel of the government of Peru. The Presi- 
dent recognizes Peru and Chili to be independent republics, to 
which he has no right or inclination to dictate." 

! his much the President, speaking by Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
felt bound to communicate especially for the benefit of the 
government of Chili, by way of '•modifying'' — that is a 
very gentle term — the original instructions given by Mr. 
Blaine. In all the diplomacy of the United States, 1 
many times has a President felt called to use toward another 
nation apologetic language such as that? 
The instructions continue : — 

"Were the United States to assume an attitude of dictation 
toward the South American republ for the purpoi 

preventing war, the greatest of evils, or to preserve the auton- 
omy of nations, it must be prepared, by army and navy, to 



26 THE 11 CHAPTER IX HIS LI] 

enforce its mandate, and to this end tax our people for the 
exclusive benefit of other nations." 

( )f course this is true. When, therefore, the United 
State to Chili : " The annexation of Tara- 

. seems to us inconsistent with the executi< ice," 

the United States was pi _ to hind itself to prevent, 

by force, Chili from annexing that department. 
. with some explanation, these words 
: — 

•• You will -a\ to the Chilian government that the President 
considers such a pn at is, the a 

"as an intentional and unwarranl . and that you 

communicate such an avowal to the government of the United 

h the assurance that it will be regarded by the - 
eminent a-- an act of such unfriendly import as to require 
immediate suspension of all diplomatic intercourse. You will 
inform me immediately of the happening of such a contingei 
and instructions will he sent to you." 

This passage in the original instructions calls oul this 
comment as accompaniment to its revocation: — 

•• Believing that a prolific ca itention between nati 

is an irritability which is too readily offended, the President 
prefers that he shall himself determine, after report to him. 
whether there is. or is not, cause for offence." 

the Presidenl inion that the temper 

of Hotspur is not that in wh • aal affairs should 

he conducted. Further, he has an aversion to final a 

upon a hypothetical ca antipathy, iubt- 

ysen fully shared. He is not quite willing 

that his representative dp . and 
upon receipt of an uld notif) " die immediate - 

pension of all diplomatic i He even desir 

upon that questi m himself, upon full knowledge of all 
the facts. 

Mr. Blaine, th ulture is not that o( 

a lawyer, ha- no h . He ma 

one up easily. He bade Mr. I put to the Chilian 

. : — 
•■ I to \ "ii bite your thumb at us, sir? " 
If the Chilian government . what is to follow? 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN" HIS LIFE. 2"J 

Why, something that Shakespeare has sketched. In a 
chorus, where the action is shown as very rapid, he tells 
how negotiations closed between the French king and 
Henry V. 

"The offer likes not; and now the nimble gunner 
With linstock the devilish cannon touches, 
And down goes all before him." 

This whole quarrel about Calderon, wholly of Mr. Blaine's 

making, so far as it was made at all, lias, let me notice in 

ing, its ridiculous aspect. It was absurd to suppose that 

Chili, having taken certain action for which she could give 

>ns ".is plenty as blackberries," would avow 

that her purpose was to insult the United States. Engaged 

in a conflict involving her relative position on the continent, 

how could she be led aside to give needless offence to a 

powerful third party like our nation? In any event how 

could she be induced to avow such motive? What good 

je was there in asking her if she bit her thumb at us? 

Even in Shakespeare there is given a form of answer to this 

stion which avoids offence — namely: 

•■I do bite my thumb, sir." 

Chili at least could have availed herself of that form. 

In fact, Mr. Blaine out of the way, this matter was easily 
adjusted between the Chilian minister at Washington and 
our Secretary of State, in a single interview. Our pleni- 
potentiary extraordinary at Santiago was relieved from duty 
in "the Calderon question" alto-ether. 

Then, there seems to be a new preference as to the route 
bv which this special envoy with the rank of plenipotentiary 
extraordinary to the republics of Chili, Peru, and Bolivia, 
should return home. The instructions go on: — 

" It is al-o the President's wish that you do not visit (although 
indicated in your original instructions you should do so), as the 
envoy of this government, the Atlantic republics after leaving 
Chili". 

" The United State- i- at peace with all ihe nations of the 
earth, and the President wishes hereafter to determine whether 
iL will conduce to that <_ r eiieral peace, which he would cherish 
and promote, for this government to enter into negotiations and 
consultation for the promotion of peace with selected friendly 



28 HIE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LI] 

nationalities without extending a like confidence to other peo- 
ples with whom the Unil is on equally friendly terms. 
" If such partial confidence would create jealousy and illwiil. 
peace, the obj it by such consultation, would not be 
prom' 

These instructions close with this at sentence: — 

"The President, at all events, prefers time for deliberation." 

Thus Mr. Blaine's instructions of December i were re- 
voked ; and the United States drew back from an " appeal 
to the other republics of this continent to join it in an 
effort" ;: lili. They were revoked because they 

threatened — because they led to — war. 

V. MR. BLAINE WELL WARNED OF THE SITUATION, AND 
WHAT HE RELIED UPON TO AVOID WAR. 

And that his course did lead to that result. Mr. Blaine 

was advised by those conversant with the situation, and 

whose duty it was to give him information, early and late. 

re Mr. Blaine had written a line in this affair, he was 

informed by Minister Christiancy that 

'• the influence of the United Mate- on this coast upon any 
question connected with this war, or the settlement of p 
can only be secured 1 intervention, in some fi 

against the will of the Chilian government." 

Twice oil the same daw in two different dispatch 
expresses this opinion, using the term '• active interven- 
tion" in each dis . He had before informed 
rtment that, before the battle which opened Lim 
her armies. ( 'Jiili h id declared that she would accept neither 
mediation nor g re he left Lima. 

rted this opinion. His su< 
e to the same effect four times 
ire the special mission to the warring repul lies was 
determined niton. The Peruvian minister at Washing 
had then three times asked for the intervention of the 1 
ted S lute intervention" is his »n in his 

third request. I iter information is to the sami 1'his 

was Mr. Tics, ott's opinion after he had reached the scene of 
his mission. " Chili," he says, •' will maintain her position 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIFE. 2Q 

urn il the demonstration of a forcible intervention by the 
United States is in 

There is action of the Chilian government confirming 
these opinions. The temper of the Chilian government had 
been exceedingly tried by the conduct of our minister to 
Peru, Genera] Hurlbut. He is reported to have protested 
against Calderon's arrest : and there were that 

Chili; efnment was, by this til 

fully aroused. According to Mr. Hurlbut, that arrest was 
effected with deal of u y military display : 

troops in the streets at two o'clock Sunday morning, the 
whole square about Calderon's residence closely guarded, 

i ompany thrown across the front of the United States 

ion ■' to prevent his seeking asylum " there. Down on 
the harbor of Callao lav the Chilian ironclads, one of which 
was to receive this prisoner of war; a I >ur navy 

was represented there, it seems, by wooden ships. Th 

ships might possibly I lived orders, origi- 

nating from V. . linst what the Chilian 

:rnment would then have d.nvj; and the M 
Tribune reports the Chilian ironclads as having got into 
position to demolish them if they made any hostile demon- 
stration. 

La1 r. Mr. Trescott, while still under the bellicose instruc- 
tions which he had Mr. Blaine, had, at 1 
one interview with the Civilian minister of foreign affairs, in 
which the merits of the situation were treated : that is, some 
days before the knowledge that those instructions had I 
revoked appears to have r Santiago. And in that 
interview the Chilian minister • ted the old Chilian 
demands, substantially as they were made on board the 
United States vessel-of-war in the Day of Arica. I 
no backing down on the part of Chili. lid have 

ipaca and she would have also twentymilli lem- 

nity, with other considerations that need not be 
If Peru would not yield this, then Chili wished no farther 
interference by the United States. This, when the 
impression of a positive and imperious demand by the I 
ted States that Chili sh take an immediate pe 

such terms as the United States deemed just and pr 



30 THE PJ CHAPTER IN HIS I. II I . 

had produced in Santiago a very excited state of feeling: 
whip >wn, the thunderbolt aimed at the Chilian 

irnment by Mr. Blaine had not lost its impelling force : 
while it was still hurtling through the upper air. 

Furthermore, y »u will n that Chili's great i I 

was her action toward ( 

ernment. It was upon th hat, according to Mr. 

Blaine, the President was lit to pla 

" The gods arc hard to reconcile," 

you know. Well, in this interview mention was made of 
Calderon. It came up in this way. The question arose 
how far the Chilian government would facilitate Mr. T 

t's wish ;■ with a Peruvian government. The 

answer was ready : To any extent, save as to confer^ 
with Calderon. The United States could have no conference 
with him. 

Hen- was Mr. Blaine fully warned, /elopments 

tending to verify the warnings, that a certain course toward 
Chili would be futile, would be vain and idle, unless the 
United States was ready to support it by interven- 

tion ; and yet he went on to take thai lie on! 

communications to he made which were wholly unbe< on 
his government, unless the army and navy of the 
States \\< orce them. The President, in revoking 

such orders, so understood their import. 

Mr. Blaine's atti otion ha- been called to this aspect o\ 
his policy ; and apparently he has given us what lie r< 
upon to turn aside his action from carrying the United 
States into w r. A.S a witness before the committee 
already mentioned, he fnmd occasion I what, in 

his opinion, made ridiculous the exp • the 

result of his policy. In the first place, he was confident 
that he was dealing with Chili alone — unsupported ami 
alone. 

V. other nation would intervene, though our mi: 
complain of die disposition ^\ European representatives — 
Italian. French, bul more especially English — to thwart 
their efforts to bring ice, and though Mr. Blaine 

himself is positive that the war of Chili was wholly in 
English interest ; " an ! war," he - 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 31 

TheD, may there not have been something in the rumor 

that the Chilian government made inquiry how far several 

European governments would aid Chili in resisting the pre- 

■ United States, as set up by Mr. Blaine, and 

red a satisfactory answer? 

And vet this is the way in which he derides the 

apprehension that his course led to war: — 

•• And Hint is the terrible war that I was going to urge the 
rv into, in which the United States was to be ruined by 

Chili.'"' 

Why not? Let us see why not, in Mr. Blaine's opinion. 
He continues right on : — 

• Eighteen hundred thousand people, eight thousand miles 
away, were going to whip the United States." 

Here is no pretext that he was not giving Chili just cause 
of war — was not proceeding toward her in such a manner 
ith a larger nation would have resulted in a conflict of 
arm ;. But the decisive fact, which is to silence all criticism 
upon that proceeding, is that the people against whom it 
was aimed were too few and too far off to wage war with 
the United States. 

Mr. Blaine makes little account of the fact that small 
nations sometimes have great spirit. Massachusetts, when 
she had not one twentieth of the present population of 
Chili, did not hesitate to raise fortifications against the king 
11-land. Prussia, also, once a dukedom, and thereafter 
only a small kingdom, made her advancement by courage 
always. It may be that the Republic of Chili, never accused 
of lacking audacity, follows the same way to greatness. 

VI. HIS ACTION UNPRECEDENTED, UNAUTHORIZED, INCONSIST- 
ENT Willi 1111. PREVIOUS BEARING OF THE UNITED STATES, 
RIOUS TO BOTH CHILI AND PERU, DISCREDITS EI. E TO 
) HI UNITED STATES, AND AGAINST THE INTEREST OF 
CIVILIZATION IN SOUTH AMERICA. 

Has Mr. Blaine's conduct of these affairs any justification? 

There was. certainly, no principle of international law 

which imposed upon the United States the duty to interfere 



32 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 

in this matter. The recognized, established foreign policy 
of our nation forbade such interference. Under Mr. Evarts, 
who preceded Mr. Blaine, there was no motion toward 
interference. Under Mr. Frelinghuysen, who followed him, 
Mr. Blaine's threats of interference were retracted; and 
when the I set-aside Mr. Blaine's policy he 

his country once more in line with the policy of Washington. 
And the policy laid down by Washington has been that 
followed by the United States, except during a portion of 
the year 1881. 

Mr. Blaine claims the authority of no precedent for his 
course. On the other hand, he makes a statement of oppo- 
site purport. lie speaks of the policy which he enti 
upon as an original policy. Ii - that he himself 

originated it. Certainly, it has no American precedent or 
prototype. It appears to be original. It worked like a new 

But if international law or the established policy of the 
United States had made it proper, at any time, for the 
United States to intervene in this quarrel, eight thousand 
miles away, as Mr. 151 line tells us, that time had gone by, 
when, in the presence of the United States. Chili declared 
that she would resume hostilities against Peru, in order to 

. of the department of Tarapaca. 
When Mr. Blaine became Secretary of State, the United 
Stat d not to interfere to prevent that cession : 

I Mr. Blaine's projected, attempted interference was in 
violation of good faith to Chili. 

It was a policy beneficial to neither party which it v. 
affect. Says Mr. Trescott : — 

"The Peruvian government does believe that the United 
g will in: 

I [e adds : — 

•It is obvious that neither Chili nor Peru will approach tin- 
solution of their difficulties in the proper spirit, or with any 
■ of a result satisfactory to both, as long a- this impression 
lasts." 

It was an intermeddling in a quarrel to the prolongation 

of that quarrel. June. 1882, found our special envoy back 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LI] 33 

again in the United States, and our effort at intervention 
wholly ended. But it was 1884 before peace was m 
between Chili and Peru; and then substantia hili's 

terms as opposed by Mr. Blaine. That Mr. Blaine's a< 
prolonged, if it did not wholly cause; this delay is very 

r. Mr. Trescott found that "three fourths of the 1 
ness men on the coast would make peace at the cost of the 

ion of Tarapaca"; and the government recognizing 
its necessity. What was to prevent? The belief that 
United States would intervene, he tells us. 

How has this policy affected the position of the United 
States in South America? Mr. Blaine answers that question. 
He says it destroyed the position of the United States there. 

" She has got no position at all. And we earned in the end 
the high rank and title of being absolutely the subject of funny 
cartoons, in which the American navy is represented as being 
blown out of water by the Chilian fleet, and it is believed all 
over Chili to-day that we backed down for fear of being 
thrashed." 

The merits of the conflict between Chili and her adver- 
saries I have not adverted to. There is, however, another 
question which is of interest to the people of the United 
States, upon which I may venture to spend a few moments 
before passing to my conclusion. This question is : What 
wa> the relation of this war to the cause of social order and 
good government? How do the respective parties stand 
to the interest of civilization in South America? 

The papers of our State Department throw some light 
upon this question. Minister Christiancy wrote to Mr. 
Evarts of the Spanish conquerors in Peru having extin- 
guished a civilization more humane than their own, and 
oyed useful improvements which their race have never 
been able to equal or replace. To Mr. Blaine he v. 
much more fully upon the same topic. He states, with a 
personal observation of over two years, and the best so::. 
of information within his reach, that he is '"unable to dis- 
cover any sufficient elements here for establishing an inde- 
pendent, or even any kind of regular or permanent, 
government by Peru; certainly, no form of popular { 
eminent by the Peruvians themselves." For this opinion 



34 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 

he gives some reasons, among which I find these state- 
ments : — 

" I do not think there are now in the city of Lima two hun- 
dred families of pure white blood, and probably not in all Peru 
two hundred thousand of the white rare unmixed. 

" The laboring-classes in Peru are sunk beyond the hope of 
redemption." 

. Of their army he says : — 

" The officers (all white) fled by The battle of the 

thirteenth opened at daylight some ten miles from Lima, and at 
nine o'clock. A. M., I saw in the streets of Lima enough Peruvian 
officers with shoulder-straps to make an entire regiment." 

And this with reference to their administration of govern- 
ment : — 

" There seems to be no fixed principle of honesty, no idea 
even of that self-sacrificing patriotism which is essential to 
a proper and honest administration of government." 

In the same dispatch he mentions the project of a pro- 
tectorate of Peru by, and also of its annexation to, the 
United States. But he declares himself opposed to annex- 
ation unless Peru should remain a territory for ten year 
probationary period which he deems necessary to fit her 
people for admission into the Union. Having given a pic- 
ture of Peru, feebly drawn as he says, he asks that his letter 
may be treated as strictly confidential, and declares that his 
life would not be safe in Lima "for one day, if it were made 
public." 

The Peruvian army disbanding itself after its defeat 
in front of Lima, the city came nigh being destroyed by 
a Peruvian mob, made up lar -handed soldiers. 

before the Chilian army entered it. Meanwhile, it was saved 
solely by a military organization of neul 

( M' the utter helplessness of Peru. Mr. Trescott writes in 
reference to the matter of saving Tarapaca : — 

■ There is not, in my opinion, the sligl ibility of 

Peru's contributing anything" ("anything" is his wo 

such a result. She depends entirely upon the action of the 
United States." 

One need not look outside the dispatches of this same 
minister (Christianey), unfriendly as he was to Chili in this 



( M V. I I'.K IN HIS LIFE. 35 

contest, to find how superior is her character. The Chilian 
army officers, he saj -. were far superior to those of Peru. 
the entry of the Chilian army " Lima was saved from 
m. All neutrals and many of the Peruvians felt a 
sense of relief," upon their entry ; and the neutrals dreaded 
their departure. This, whil ks of the Chilian com- 

mon soldiers as " savages." Later. Minister Hurlbut v, ri 
of a sudden withdrawal of the Chilian forces from Lima, 
without the Peruvian authorities being first supplied with 
arms, as " likely to be followed by mob rule and great 
violence in Lima." 

Mr. Christiancy says ; — 

■■ The Chilian officials have conducted themselves with great 
propriety and fidelity in the preservation of the peace and good 
r of the city of Lima." 

And while writing of affairs of war he uses this strong 

language : — 

•• The government of Chili is composed of more enlightened 
men. wholly emancipated from the control of the church and 
ready to adopt all modern improvements in warfare."' 

Again he writes : — 

■ Chili has been able to secure a more permanent government 
and better to enforce financial honesty in her administration, 
and to preserve her public credit." 

For this reason, and because i: their property would be 
more safe," many men of wealth among the Peruvians, he 
savs. prefer " that the Chilians should govern the country " : 
preferring this, apparently, to anything, except "a protector- 
ate of, or annexation to, the United States." 

Here Mr. Christiancy refers to the whole countr 
whole of Peru. But Chili made no demand of the 
whole of Peru. Before the United States began to inter- 
meddle, she demanded, and since the United States ceased 
to intermeddle, she has contented herself with takin 
small portion of Peruvian territory. And this pie< 
ground had been developed into value largely by Chilian 
enterprise and capital; and at the beginning of the war 
was actually largely occupied by Chilians, who numbered. I 
am told, 40,000, out of the total population of Tarapaca of 
42.000. 



36 THE PROUD] V.PTER IN HIS LIFE. 

I do not call attention to this fact as an element establish- 
ing, or helping to establish, the justice of the demand of 
Chili. That question of justice I am not considering. I do 
cite it as an answer, and a complete answer, to what Mr. 
Blaine says, when he is offering advice to Chili, as follows: 

" There is nothing more difficult or more dangerous than the 
forced transfer of territory, carrying with it an indignant and 
hostile population." 

When Mr. Blaine used these words, was he aware of the 
fact which I have cited? It was known in his department. 

Further, let me remark that, when the government of 
Chili would boast of its people, it boasts of them as " an 
industrious people," " a people devoted to peaceful toil and 
industry." 

It appears, then, that the extension of her jurisdiction 
which Chili sought, and which Mr. Blaine set his face 
against and went forward to resist, was the extension of 
1 government in South America ; and that it was with 
the consent of the governed. It was the extension of a 
greater security of property, a further development of 
peaceful industry, a better social order, and an increased 
opportunity for the advance of civilization. 

So far, then, as this matter is involved, there was no occasion 
for his intermeddling; but on the contrary, strong reason 
why he should not interfere. 

Here, then, was a course of policy, entered upon by Mr. 
Blaine, as Secretary of State, and prosecuted as long 
he had opportunity to prosecute it, which was beneficial to 
neither nation upon whom it operated : which was directed 
ust the interest of civilization in the territory concerned 
in it: which worked out, not honor, but discredit and dis- 
grace, to the United States: and which hid no warrant of 
international law, no justification in the preceding policy of 
our country. I low comes it that such a new departure as 
this should b 1 by one who has been many years 

in public life and in high station, whose ability is the boast 
of his friends, who is vaunted as a man of extraordinary 
intellectual power, oi unusual brain? Was there any private 
interest mingled in this complication, and rendering it 
more complex, such as might lead the official feet of some 
id path? 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIFE. $y 



VII. THE PRIVATE CLAIM MIXED UP IN HIS B1 I 

Certainly, there was private interest thrusting itself into 
this international difficulty. There was much going to. and 
coming from, onr State Department during thi tion, 

upon private interests that might find favor in diplomatic 
action. Mr. Blaine re< h interests as incidental 

to his action. Let us see how these incidents were expi ■ 
to operate and to influence the course of events. 

Mr. Blaine's firsl letter to Mr. Hurlbut, written while 
President Garfield was unwounded, as the extracts which i 
have given show, touched international matters alone, the 
difficulty between Chili ami Tern. His second instructions, 
given when the President was disabled, on the other h 
concerned private claims and nothing else. Here are the 
concluding sentences of this letter : — 

'• I desire, also, to call your attention to the fact that in the 
anticipated treaty, which is to adjust the relations of Chili and 
Peru, the latter may possibly he compelled to submit to the loss 
of territory. If the territory to be surrendered should include 
the guano deposits which were discovered by Landreau, and for 
discovery of which Peru contracted to pay him a royalty 
in the tonnage removed, thin the Peruvian government 
should in the treaty stipulate with Chili for the preservation and 
payment to Landreau of the amount due under bis contract. If 
transfer be made to Chili, it should lie understood that this 
claim of an American citizen, if fairly adjudicated in his favor, 
shall be treated as a proper lien on the property to which it 
attaches; and that Chili accepts the cession with the condition 
annexed. As it may be presumed that you will be fully in- 
formed as to the progress of the negotiations between Chili and 
Peru for a treaty of peace, you will make such effort as you 
judiciously can to secure tor Landreau a fair settlement of Ins 
claim. You will lake special care to notify both the Chilian and 
Peruvian authorities of the character and status of the claim in 
order that no definitive treaty of peace shall be made in disre- 
of the rights which Landreau may be found to possess." 

Here it is to be noticed that this claim of Landreau is 
to be promoted only in one contingency ; and in that con- 
tingency it is to be pressed. That contim i the 
Otiation of a treaty between Peru and Chili : a treaty, it 
should be further noticed, involving a cession of territory 
by Peru to Chili. In every sentence above quoted that 



38 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS Lli 

idea is expressed ; and Mr. Hurlbut so understood his 
instructions. He answered that he would interpose on 
behalf of this claim, if any negotiation takes place " which 
involves the loss of territory." 

Before, then, any definitive treaty of peace was to bring 
this deplorable war to a close, in the only way in which 
there was any probability of its 1 icing brought to a close, 
there must be an adjudication of this claim, if Mr. Blaine's 
wishes could prevail. The purpose of the instructions was 
•• that no definitive treaty of peace shall be made in disregard 
of the rights which Landreau may be found to possess." 
That is the conclusion of the letter. 

The confidential agent of Peru, in presenting to the con- 
sideration of Mr. Blaine the distressed condition of his 
country, had set forth as the first and most important act of 
its government, "to conclude a treaty of peace with Chili." 
Now, however, the American minister is to see that before 
that takes place an American claim is to be considered. 

The next significant contemplation of these instructions 
was that this claim, when adjudged good, was to be recog- 
nized in the treaty of peace as a lien upon the terril 
which was to be ceded to Chili in accordance with her 
demand; that is, the department of Tarapaca. Now. Mr. 
Blaine's opinion as later expressed was, that the cession of 
Tarapaca was not consistent with the execution of justice. 
It is hardly possible, then, that these instructions contem- 
plated that, if that territory were to be transferred to Chili 
subject to an incumbrance. Chili was to be allowed to 
increase her taking by the amount of the incumbrance. 
Such an increased taking would add to the deep distress 
of Peru a burden which Mr. Blaine could never have 
intended. 

The allowance, then, of the Landreau claim, which the 
American minister was instructed to promote, was, as con- 
templated by Mr. Blaine, to place on territory to lie acquired 
by Chili a Luge incumbrance, [ts amount, as stated by 
Mr. Plai.ie, w >,ooo, equal to more than one third 

oi the money indemnity demanded by Chili from rem. 
This amount was, in sul assumed by Chili. But 

Mr. Blaine would have Peru provide for its adjudication. 



THE PROUOl I CHAPTER I \ HIS LIFE. 3Q 

Now how much respect could Chili be required to pay 
to a Peruvian adjudication of a claim thus situated? None 
at all. Nations do not regard adjudications obtained in 
such relations. Mr. Blaine's own nation does not. When 
our country bought Florida from Spain, it agreed to assume 
the claims of i itizens of the 1 ainst the 

Spanish government, and to pay in satisfaction of th 
claims S5,ooo,ooo of the purchase-money. Bui it did not 
allow the Spanish government to adjudicate those claims; 
the United States provided that adjudication itself. 

But there is something to be said of Peruvian adjudica- 
tion, even when the adjudication is to be actually, and not 
merely nominally, against the Peruvian government. When 
Mr. Blaine thus instructed Minister Hurlbut to obtain a 
Peruvian adjudication of Landreau's claim, he knew 
Mini if the character of such adjudications. Not 

. before he had received a despatch from Mini 
( 'hristiancy, from which extracts have been given, and 
which stated as follows: — 

" If. for instance, . . . any man had a claim against the gov- 
ernment well or ill founded, he could get it allowed by giving 
a fair share of it to the President and Cabinet officers; and. 
good the claim might be. it was seldom allowed without 
this reward. 

•'The joint commission got up here by . • . in favor of 
Am rican claims was no exception to the given rule : and. I am 
informed, several claims were allowed against Peru, which never 
Should have been allowed at all, or only for a much smaller sum; 
. . . allowing some special friend, such a.s ... to make the 
arrangements between the claimants and the officer of the gov- 
ernment, and these claimants paying som iventypen 
and upwards of their claims, which percentage., to all appear- 
ance, must have been shared among all the parties acting in the 
scheme." 

Such was the material out of which Peru was to furnish a 
mal to pass upon the merits of this ! mdreau claim. 
which had secured the friendship of Mr. Blaine, Secretary 
-ate of the United States. And what was the govern- 
ment with which Mr. Blaine was in communication, and 
which was to authorize the tribunal requested by him? It 
(vemment of i era, whose authority was confined 
within the Chilian military lines. In it- b 5t state, which it 



40 THE PROUDEST ( HAl'TJ.R IN HIS LIFT.. 

had not then reached, its best support came from the United 

ad not from the people whom it pretended to govern. 

ded upon the aid of the United States, as the 

i n i- i when Mr. Blaine directed its action, in 

gth to maintain itself over its own pen 
and wholly for aid which would enable it to maintain itself 
in anj queror, Chili. 

1 , : ta patron, at such a junc- 

Mr. Blai What would not be the chance 

f its valid if he were found forwarding it 

in air 

tppose that, as forwarded by Mr. Blaine, it 
a claim Peru, only nominally. Suppose that, 

really, wh d, it was to be paid by Chili — 

,e an incumbrance on real estate to be acquired by 
that cin umstance largely increase the 
i. by a tribunal to be 
provi led by on . ■ irnment? 

In ai: (nation, was not the support which 

.,' the Un s was giving to this 

claim a mosl rvi< e? Chili was 

it taking the It" they went alone, this 

m would be worthh ;s. Thi i be of any value, 

ith the territory as a lien upon it. 

I any claimant : such backing? In 

the event of - . >uld it 1 ling in him not to 

a feeling of gratitude for the good service done 

him ? 

If the claimant should forget this service, might not the 

write a note reminding him of it ? That 

is. if tl '• r, would 

te? If it is per- 
ve luld the higher offii ial 
States to remind those, n 
intei I by their official a 

»r, by way of promptii return, would not Mr. 

Bla , this reminder to any one 

interested in the Landreau ■ laim, in < aim had 

h promotion as Mr. Blaine 
ually gave to ii? Would it not be churlish in that 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 41 

claimant to consider Mr. Blaine a deadhead in his enter- 
prise? If these things could follow after, might not they 
be contemplated before, action taken? 

VIII. MR. BLAINE IS INDIGNANT: HE TAKES UP LAMEN- 
TATION, PROPHECY ALSO. 

But Mr. Blaine is indignant at any representation that the 
promotion of this, or of any other, claim was an important 
portion of his South American policy : at any representa- 
tion '■ that that policy was only a dirty effort to get two 
claims recognized." He testifies : — 

"The fact of it is. the whole of this business about the 
Landreau claim and the Cochet claim had no more to do with 
the administration's policy about South America than a barnacle 
on the bottom of the vessel that carried General Ihuibut int.. 
Lima had — not a bit — nothing whatever. It never interrupted 
the course of it for an hour — never. In the instructions which 
Mr. Trescott received from President Arthur there is no allusion 
to them at all — not the slightest. They did not figure; they 
were not a part of the res gestce at all ; they were mere 
incidents." 

He declares of this Landreau claim : — 
" It was not a fly on the wheel." 
He testifies on the other hand : — 
" That policy had for its end some great objects." 
In the course of his examination he tells about these 
great objects. He characterizes that policy. It was. lie 
declares, pre-eminently a peace policy: "solely and en- 
tirely in the interest of peace " : its idea " to abolish war 
from the continent : to stop it absolutely " : " in every 1 
and under all contingencies and between all peoples to a 
war, to make war impossible between American govern- 
ments." "The entire spirit of the government was not fa- 
war ; but it was for peace and for promoting peace : ] 
that was to make war impossible" on this continent. 
" From first to last this was thoroughly a peace police " 
''to bring the nations of the North and South American 
continent into a league or union in the interests of peace, 
so that it would be impossible for them to go to war." 



42 THE PROUi'I -J CHAPTER IN HIS LI1 

So Mr. Blaine testifies under oath. At the same time he 
testifies to what would, in some degree, seem to be a matter 
of fact within his personal knowledge. As before men- 
tioned. 1: ;at he himself d this poli< y. 

Now, to the originator of such a policy, this might be 
pardoned. At least, it would not be a strange thing, if lie 
should be absorbed by an object, so beneficent and compre- 
hensive as was the object which Mr. Elaine would seem to 
have set before him in bringing in this policy. Many men 
in such a pursuit would become oblivious of other consid- 
erations. This, however, does not happen in the case of 
Mr. Blaine. His friends claim for him an unusual, an ex- 
traordinary brain. That alone, they seem to regard as 
sufficient to justify his election to the presidency. Well, 
certainly his brain appears to be capacious. While conduct- 
ing a policy which is to abolish war on a hemisphere, he 
finds ability to entertain other considerations. How much 
space these other considerations filled in his mind : how his 
comprehending brain entertained them : let him testify him- 
self. Here is his testimony upon this point. If nothing 
else, it is fragrant, odoriferous : — 

■■ Well, it was not done" (that is, a brave intent of his was 
not executed). ••There was nothing done under it; and that 
property has gone in the way of all flesh. The Chilian govern- 
ment has put up by advertisement 1.000,000 tons of guano, 
which, 1 suppo 0.000, 000 in Liverpool; and they 

pledge then Ives in the advertisement to pay one half of it 
into the Hank of England, for the benefit of the English bond- 
holders who put up (Ik- job of this war on Peru. It was a put- 
up job : that is all that there was to it; it was loot and booty. 
It had not a> much excuse in this as Hastings and Clive had in 
what they did in India. The war on Peru has been made in the 

that Clive and Hastings had in India; and 1 
land sweeps it all in. 

^'. — The whole war was about this territory? A. —The 
whole war was about this territory that had the value in it. 

iano and the nitrates: nothing el 
A.- hing else. It was to get possession of it. It was 

the old Bti N vineyard that inviting over 

the wall. They wanted this territory, and w rmined to 

rved by this morning's (April 24, 1882) papers 
that the English war fleet of seven large ironclad vessels have 

tided to 'lip down the coast from Callao to Valparai 
and they have had a strong force there all the time, — the 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 43 

English have. The ironclads thai destroyed the Peruvian navy 
were furnished by England; and the Peruvian agents came to 
this countrv to sec whether they could find a good ship in antici- 
pation of the war. when they knew it was coming. They said 
they didn't dare to apply in England to get it; and we were 
nut' able to furnish it. I do not speak of the government; 
I mean the manufacturers of this country. They did not 
dare to apply to England for it. It is a perfect mistal. 
speak ol this a s a Chilian war on Peru. It is an English 
war on Peru, with Chili as the instrument; and I take 
the responsibility of that assertion. Chili would never have 
gone into the war one inch, but for her backing by English cap- 
ital ; and there was never anything played out so boldly in the 
world as when they came to divide the loot and the spoils'. 
They said : ' We will take half, ami we will divide this inher- 
itance among ourselves; and as to those American citizens 
about whom they talk, they have been discredited at home, and 
what right has an American citizen to be regarded down here? 
We are going to settle this ourselves.'" 

Here a great grievance to Mr. Blaine seems to be that, in 
taking Permian territory, the Chilian government provided 
for Peruvian debts, respected the rights of Peruvian credi- 
tors. 

This, also, is to be noticed. I may have overlooked it ; 
but I have looked for, and been unable to find, any other 
lament of Mr. Blaine over the breaking down of his great 
South American policy : a policy which was to 

" Ring out the thousand wars of old, 
Ring in the thousand years of peace." 

Large minded, capable of originating this policy, as mag- 
nanimous as Agamemnon, he contains his grief over its 
defeat until he contemplates the fields of nitrates and guano 
that are likely to change owners: and then his sorrow and 
indignation find vent ; they gush forth. 

Furthermore. Mr. Blaine declares that the United E 
might have prevented something "without firing a gun." 
And when one looks to the context to see what that some- 
thing is, it is found to be the taking of ° this guano and these 
nitrates." without providing for Landreau's claim. Are not 
these expressions c>f Mr. Blaine strange expressions from 
the mouth of the Pacificator of the Western World? a 
diplomat whose 

" feet are with the gospel shod "? 



44 THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 

In another answer he speaks in the language of one who, 
looking beyond the present, contemplates the judgment of 
centuries thai . He declares with due solemnity : 

"And histi rj will hold the United States responsible for it.*' 

Responsible for what? Why, for letting go "this guano 
ami these nitrates'" as before. 

Furthermore, the last feather in this business which broke 
the camel's back, you recollect, was the extinction of the 
Calderon government. How did that act lie related in Mr. 
Blaine's mind? He dr. 1 '.red that, Calderon left in power, 
there was " no reason in the world why a tribunal might not 
have been established in two That is, a tribunal to 

pass upon Landreau's claim. He then adds: — 

" He was taken prisoner to prevent these very tilings from 
being done." 

Mr. J .. Shipherd, an agent in behalf of claimants 

ported as stating that Calderon 
tweh certain day. going to sign a formal 

acknowledgment of Peru's indel but, at an earlier 

was kidnapped by the Chilians 
Thereupon, arc. riling to Mr. Blaine, it might be hard to 
appease the President without restoring Calderon to power. 
In his instructions of June 15, Mr. Blaine directs efforts to 
b • made against the dismemberment of Peru. In those of 
December 1. he makes ti his absol 

speaks of the acquisition by Chili of Tarapaca as inconsist- 
ent with justi 

while, he had taken another view; or. perhaps 
I subview. August 4 his reflection hi 
to him. Mi This is a wicked w 

Injustice oftt n pre . 5. Chili i 

■ 
claim which not till Chili ex- 

cludes the of this intention, that 1 to 

the taking lute. 

Now, how would "hot-blooded," "hot-tempered" 
lians, and j I ' withal, be inclined to understand 

this 1 of Mr. Blaine a- a whole? Might they not In- 

led to conjecture that the United States, though opposed to 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE. 45 

their taking of Tarapaca, would not push that opposition 
to the extremity of actual war, provided, only the claim 
favored by the United States was recognized by the taker? 

Mr. Blaine lays great stress on the fact that this claim was 
not mentioned in the instructions to Mr. Trescott. Why 
should it have been? Mr. Trescott was to carry an ultima- 
tum to Chili, while the Landreau claim was against Peru. 
It had not, as yet. been adjudicated as good against the 
principal defendant, and thus as a good lien upon the terri- 
tory to be taken. Not till it had passed this stage could it 
hili. Ther, it might be presented some- 
what in this form: "If you will take Tarapaca subject to 
this lien in favor of Landreau, well. ( Itherwise the taking 
seems to us inconsistent with the execution of justice." 

Thus handled, what a vista this claim might open to the 
•ssive and brilliant statesman? What an apt entrance 
it might furnish to a protectorate over Peru? 

In fact, Chili had taken a course which had prevented 
this claim from reaching this stage of maturity, where it 
might be used against her. She had extinguished the Peru- 
vian government that might have forwarded the allowance of 
this claim. And it was only then that she was to be told by 
the United States that the annexation of Tarapaca was 
unjust. 

But, in any stage, it would have been very bald diplomacy 
to have thrust forward this Landreau claim as a cause of 
war. In the stage in which it actually was, to have made it 
a part of Mr. Trescott' •. would have been as un- 

thinkable as for the Secretary of State to write : " Go it, 
e," on the margin of a dispatch ; and this, Mr. Blaine, 
properly enough, treats as too absurd for consideration. 

It may be that the Landreau claim in no way influenced 
the course of Mr. Blaine's South American policy ; but, if he- 
wishes to corroborate his own testimony to that effect, he 
should produce some better evidence than the silence, in 
regard to that claim, of the instructions to Mr. Trescott. 

IX. THIS IS THE STORY. HOW DO YOU LIKE IT? 

This is the story of Mr. Blaine's South American policy ; 
his greatest manifestation of himself in high executive 



THE PROUDEST CHAPTER IX HIS LIFE. 

office ; his crown of glory as Secretary of State. I have 
laid before nv. the proudest chapter in Mr. Blaine's 

life — down to April, 1SS2. 

Is there anything in it of which the United States can be 
proud? Was it not conducted with a disregard of interna- 
i] law, of what is due from the United States to other 
nation.-, and of what is due to the character and honor of 
the Unite Was it not conducted with a reckl 

disregard of national consequences? Is there anything in it 
which commends Mr. Blaine to our choice as Chief Magis- 
trate of our nation? Do the people of the United Si 
desire more of sue h administration in the State, or any other, 
Department of its government? Shall he. who thin shame- 
fully mismanaged one department, be placed at the head 
of all the departments? Shall one guilty of miscon 
like his in one executive department, be made the Chief 
Magistrate of our nation? 



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